In my hometown, the season of Fall is in full bloom. The beautiful and bold yellow, reds, and orange leaves have made their debut. The temperatures have chilled off and the wool socks and hot cocoas are being gratefully enjoyed in my home. There are pumpkins on the porch and delicious Fall flavored candles lit each day.

One of my favorite quotes from Henry David Thoreau is this one:

“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of earth.”

I love Fall and everything about this season. (Can you tell?)

Seasons changing in our own lives is just as real as the changing of the seasons of the earth. The one constant in life is change and like the thought by Thoreau suggests, embrace each season as it comes.

Although change can tend to bring up fears and discomfort, what is really at play is embracing the uncertainty of the unknown – this is true whether your fear is of failure or of success. When we are leaving behind what is familiar and heading into unknown territory it’s common and normal for fear and second guessing to come forward for you to address.

I invite you to face the fear, walk through it, and you will see that you are stronger, more capable, and simply more fantastic than you previously knew.

Now, some changes come to us that are unwelcomed, unplanned for, and simply hurt. This could be loss in any form – loved ones, job, health, relationship, you name it. Loss is a grieving process of letting go of what once was in your life and/or relationships. I honor that sacred space and there is a need for grief and healing. If you’re in a major transition, please make sure to reach out and get support around you.

I do know that even with the greatest of heartaches, there are opportunities for growth and claiming of a new chapter of life. I have learned even in my own deepest heartaches in certain seasons of my life that even those heartbreaks contained powerful lessons for me to soak in.

Whether the change you’re facing this season is of a major magnitude or the smaller, move the needle type of changes, here are a few questions to help you navigate change:

What is this here to teach me? What is the lesson of this experience?

What’s the gift of this new season?

Why am I resisting this change? What’s the fear really about? What if I could surrender versus struggle with this change?

What would I rather experience or create in my life?

What small change can I make today that with time will have the greatest influence?

I also find that activities like increased self care (exercise, rest, & nutrition) and surrounding ourselves with positive and loving people, books, or materials can help during the change process.

I would invite you to consider that change is also to be celebrated too, right? All to often we’re resisting change or in fear of it. Yet consider this, for many of you if your life was the exact same 10 years from today, you would be miserable! Change gives life a lot of juice, excitement, new adventure & discovery, and allows for even greater things, people, and opportunities to come to us. Change can get a bad rap, but it’s also that same change that gives you growth, meaning, purpose, and opportunities!

Consider this…just what if life was always working for your highest good? Hmmm….

Just what if we could trust a little more and doubt a little less?…of life, others, ourselves, etc.?

Just what if we could resign ourselves (surrender) to the season we are in, even if it’s painful and ouchy and scary and gleam the juicy gems and insights that are waiting to be seen?

Just what if change really does come bearing gifts?

I echo the classic sentiments expressed many years ago…

“To everything there is a season and a purpose under heaven.”

There is purpose to the season you are in. There are many things to be grateful for no matter what swirls around us. Embrace the changes you’re facing, allow them to teach you, and celebrate that life has great things in store for you (uncertainty wrapped in excitement).

LOVE + MONEY

Make Money by Making a DIFFERENCE

So what does love have to do with making money?

In most cases, everything.

Sure there are times you order a product online with no interaction or you may even buy something from a rude or checked out sales rep, but more often than not, our experience and therefore our feelings have everything to do with our purchases. And love being the positive emotion, it is at the core.

Let’s imagine that you would like to make more money and/or close more sales.

Being great at sales is synonymous with being great at service. And from my perspective, I like to focus first and last on service and then the sales and money are a natural byproduct.

Adding value to others, seeking to understand & meet their needs, and coming to all your business relationships with the intentions of serving your clients, is the sign of a true leader, a top performer in sustaining sales success.

Oftentimes when money may feel scarce or may be tight, it’s easy to move into fear and anxieties about money…which may push us to want to “sell” more to others. We may get pushy or desperate (a future newsletter in the making) and we ultimately disconnect ourselves from love, trust of life, and the Universe as Marianne would say in her teachings as well.

If making more money is one of your goals this year, then get focused and get centered in love, service, and adding value.

Ask yourself,

How can I make a bigger impact for my existing clients?

How can I go the extra mile in my customer service?

Who and how can I serve today?

When we show up to serve others, when we focus on making a difference in others lives and in solving their problems, we create value in us and in the relationship. Which in turn, will put money in your pocket.

Now sometimes I may serve someone and they don’t choose to move forward – that’s okay – I know that if I’m doing my part to serve, add value, and CONTRIBUTE to the planet, then I’m always depositing in my “karma bank account” and I always trust that for me God (you may label your higher power differently) will always provide for me – and He does.

Just today I had a coaching session with a successful gentleman who has recently gotten “stuck” in his sales process and ultimately no recent sales transactions. His stress level high, his brain trying to figure out what was “wrong”, and he was agitated that the work he was doing wasn’t paying off. As I probed and asked several questions, it became clear to us both that his energy was off in his business. He was stressed, frustrated, and resentful – all repellents for sales and money. His assignments – reconnect to fun, service, and his spiritual core to realign.

Does that sound like some woo wow advice or what?

We did address his sales funnel and price points too for skillset – yet when one’s mindset and energy is thrown off, skill becomes irrelevant.

Think about it – no one is buying more stress, frustration and resentment, right? (Imagine that for a moment and you’ll laugh).

So if that is where you are at and that is what your prospects are picking up – they aren’t buying.One of my mentors, Jack Canfield, use to tell us, “You can’t put nail polish over poop.” Now that’s quite the image, but the teaching is so true. Putting a smile over your disconnected, stress emotions won’t hide the energetic truth of how you’re feeling.

So take your power back. Reconnect to SERVICE in your business, life and sales. Focus on adding value and making a difference. Money follows difference makers – have you noticed?

A thought I really enjoy by Earl Nightengale…“We get rich by enriching others”

How can you serve more?
Add more value?
Stand out by going the extra mile?

One of the most poignant teachings I heard last weekend from Marianne comes directly from her book.

“Purity of heart is the engine of wealth creation.”

Think on that one.
Meditate about it.
Let it sink in.

That’s what I call a soul stopper. (hee hee I couldn’t resist!).
But indeed true.

Our hearts and ultimately our love is what fuels our creative processes and governs how we show up in this life – in business, sales, and in our money.

And the good news is that no matter what the economy is doing, trends are predicting, our successes, our struggles – we can choose to show up and add value wherever we go, in every sales conversation, and in all of our relationships and create an abundant life for ourselves.